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Monday, 25 March 2013

The Cafe at Cafe Royal, London

I love chance encounters. Stumbling across something that you would have been gutted to miss. Well, the other day I was sat in Fortnum and Mason eating strudel - as you do. Being the geek that I am, I had checked in on Foursquare. Within seconds, my friend Marcus at Nordicware had tweeted me a picture of the window display at the five star Cafe Royal Hotel on Regent Street.

I was a three minute walk from somewhere that had bundts in their window. Just bundts. Argh! Well, off we trot. Imagine how excited I was when I got there! I was conscious of looking like some crazy northern girl taking pictures like tourism was going out of fashion. Luckily for me I was greeted by a lovely red haired lady from Stockport who was equally excited that I knew all about bundts!

I snapped away like a nutter... Oohing and ahhhing like someone who should live on a ward. The dining room is large, open and full of marble. It feels quite formal when you first walk in, but it's friendly and they have cake. That's a winning combination.

There are a number of different types of bundt on offer at Cafe Royal. They have marble type cakes, mini bundts and the traditional European Yeasted Gugelhupf with rum soaked fruit. Lovely lady from Stockport told me that the head pastry chef (Simon Jenkins) makes all the cakes on site and that the yeasted bundts are his signature dish.

The drinks are pretty good too. I'd already drunk two pots of tea that morning, so I decided to go crazy and have a hot chocolate. It came in a pretty special glass! This nifty design meant that you could handle the glass without burning your hands. My husband had an Americano, which was his third of the day. I'm surprised he wasn't wired!

It would have been rude not to sample a bundt whilst I was there, so I decided on a mini lemon one. This wasn't overly sweet and was drenched in lemon syrup. It may have been small but it packed a punch! I couldn't leave without sampling one of the yeasted variety, but we were booked into the Hawksmoor in under an hour's time. There was a very real possibility I may develop gout. So... I got a piece to takeaway for the journey home.

These breaded creations are totally different to bundt cakes. They are like a normal loaf but have added fruit and obviously come in much prettier shapes! It's was very nice, but I would have liked a bit more spice in it.

The Cafe at Cafe Royal is aiming to revive the European tradition of cafe culture. They have only been open for three weeks, and I think they have something a little different to everyone else in the capital. As it develops, I'd like to see a little more informality in the dining room. So much marble can make it feel a little uninviting, but once you're in it's very comfortable.